Celtic moved further ahead in the Scottish Premiership title race as Hibs were left to rue wasted chances as they dropped back to the bottom of the table in a 3-0 defeat at Celtic Park.
David Gray’s side appeared to be having a resurgence and had two brilliant opportunities to take a shock early lead against the champions.
Celtic’s Arne Engels celebrates after scoring to make it 1-0 vs Hibs
Max Kucharevic fired straight at Kasper Schmeichel before the Celtic ‘keeper managed to keep Nicky Cadden’s long-range shot out.
Celtic’s Kasper Schmeichel put in a player of the match performance against Hibs
Arne Engels slotted in from Alistair Johnstone’s cross in the sixth minute to open the scoring with Luke McCowan smashing a shot off the crossbar soon after.
Joe Newell blasted a chance over the bar before the break then turned Adam Idah’s header into his own net in the second half.
Kyogo Furuhashi came off the bench to wrap up Celtic’s win in style, lifting the ball over Jamie Smith to move them nine clear of second place Aberdeen, with a game in hand. Hibs fall back to the bottom after Hearts beat Dundee.
Celtic go 40 unbeaten
Celtic are now nine points clear of Aberdeen in second
Brendan Rodgers continued with his rotation strategy, with defenders Liam Scales and Greg Taylor, midfielders Luke McCowan and Engels and Idah coming into the side as they made it 40 domestic games without defeat.
Hibs, with Lewis Miller and Jordan Obita returning to their defence, should have taken the lead in the second minute when Kuharevich was sent racing clear by Nectarios Triantis but Schmeichel stopped his unconvincing shot with his foot.
Moments later, the Hoops keeper made a better save from midfielder Nicky Cadden’s drive from the edge of the box.
Hibernian’s Mykola Kuharevich has a shot saved by Celtic’s Kasper Schmeichel
The sense that Hibs would pay for that initial miss was confirmed when over-lapping full-back Alistair Johnston took a pass from Nicolas Kuhn and squared for Engels to knock the ball in from close range.
McCowan then hit the bar from a Daizen Maeda cut-back as the home side appeared to take total control.
Hibs keeper Jordan Smith saved at the feet of Idah but the Leith side should have levelled in the 17th minute when, following another swift break, Newell fired high over the bar after being set up Miller.
Kuharevich was again sent through against Schmeichel in the 22nd minute but his penultimate touch was poor and the former Leicester keeper blocked the shot for a corner which came to nothing.
Referee Chris Graham shows a yellow card to Celtic’s Arne Engels for a foul on Joe Newell
The Hibs striker soon limped off to be replaced by Josh Campbell, with Elie Youan moving to main striker.
Idah failed to connect properly with Kuhn’s cut-back a yard from goal before Engels was booked by referee Chris Graham for his foul on Newell, VAR deciding it did not require a second look for a possible red card.
Idah blasted a shot against Smith from eight yards before the Celtic backline was breached again but Johnston out-paced Youan to recover the situation.
Smith saved from Engels and then thwarted a close-range effort from Scales as the home side started the second half with purpose and with James Forrest on for Kuhn.
Joe Newell looks dejected after scoring an own goal to make it 2-0
The second goal came from a McCowan corner with Idah flashing a header goalwards and the luckless Newell putting the ball into the net.
At the other end, in the 61st minute, Youan pounced on a short back pass from McCowan but Schmeichel parried the shot with Cadden firing the rebound wide.
The Celtic keeper also saw a Miller header from a Cadden corner come straight at him and yet another Hibs chance was gone.
Smith made a fingertip save from Auston Trusty’s powerful header but Celtic went further ahead when Forrest played in Furuhashi and he calmly lifted the ball over Smith from 10 yards to clinch the points.
Rodgers praises ‘mental toughness’
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Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers says his defence wasn’t anywhere near the level they usually are in the 3-0 win over Hibs, but praises the mental strength of his squad to consistently deliver wins.
Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers speaking to Sky Sports News:
“It was a great, great win for us on the back of a tough game in midweek [vs Aberdeen].
“You can see where Hibs’ confidence now, after getting that win, has improved and they had chances, so we needed Kasper today to make some big saves.
“We were nowhere near the level of our defending, even though we’ve kept a clean sheet and that’s a huge testament to Kasper because we haven’t given away much at all this season.
“Today we were just slightly off it and that gave them opportunities to score but, overall, I think to get the win and to keep winning really shows you the mental toughness and the character within the team.”
‘We didn’t do ourselves justice’
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Hibs manager David Gray was positive about the attacking intent of his team in their 3-0 loss to Celtic, but feels their wastefulness sums up their season so far.
Hibs head coach David Gray speaking to Sky Sports News:
“Very frustrated. For everything the players put into it, we definitely didn’t do ourselves justice by putting the ball in the net when required.
“I’ll never stand and accept a defeat, I think that’s clearly the message as well.
“We’ve lost the game 3-0, so that’s firstly the disappointment side to it but I can’t remember a [Celtic] goalkeeper getting man of the match, which shows you how well we’ve done.
“The sum of the saves he’s made, he shouldn’t have been able to make. You see that even with Kyogo gets his chance one-on-one with the goalkeeper and the ball’s in the back of the net whereas we had three or four one-on-one opportunities that we didn’t take.
“The fact we’ve had nine chances at goal, and the goalkeeper’s been able to make nine saves, shows the attacking intent but also shows the way we’ve let ourselves down which has probably been the story of our season.”
